Prepaid calling cards and other prepaid telephony services are widely used as a budgeting tool or by consumers lacking credit worthiness. Certain prepaid calling cards have been customized to provide rates that are advantageous for particular types of use. For example, consumers may purchase prepaid calling cards having rate plans adapted for state-to-state long distance calling. In another example, consumers may purchase cards having rate plans enhanced for calling specific foreign countries, such as, Mexico.
Despite their mobility, prepaid calling plans are most frequently used at a users or a consumer's residence. According to some market studies, a majority of long distance calls made using a prepaid calling card services are made from the home of the consumer.
In response to the size of the prepaid calling card market, an abundance of calling card providers has surfaced. Each of these calling card providers may provide one or more calling cards having specific plan enhancements. In such a market, it is often difficult for any one calling card provider to encourage customer loyalty. This lack of customer loyalty increases marketing costs, thereby increasing the cost for providing the calling card service.
Some calling card service providers attempt to pass this cost onto consumers by charging additional fees. For example, some calling card service providers charge a weekly maintenance fee to calling card accounts. Other service providers may charge a fee to initially place a call. In another example, service providers may charge a higher fee for time used at the beginning of a call and a low fee for later minutes. In a further example, service providers may charge a flat fee for a specified length of the call, such as the first 10 minutes, and charge a lower rate for use in excess of the specified call length. Each of these methods may be confusing and upsetting to consumers, further exacerbating the problem of low customer loyalty. As such, an improved prepaid system and method would be desirable.